Volkswagen vehicle sales slump in August after July recovery

Berlin (dpa) – German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen said on Friday that sales of its vehicles had fallen sharply once again in August following a recovery in July.

Worldwide deliveries were down 6.6 per cent compared to the same month last year to 792,200 vehicles, the company said.

The year-on-year fall was partially due to especially strong sales figures in August 2019 ahead of the introduction of stricter European emissions test rules last September.

The fall follows July figures showing sales just 0.2 per cent down on the same month last year, suggesting demand had begun to recover in the wake of the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

Overall, sales have plummeted since the onset of the pandemic. Across the VW group, deliveries have been down by 21.5 per cent since the beginning of the year compared with the same period in 2019.

The latest figures came as consumer protection organizations marked five years to the day since Volkswagen was engulfed in an emissions-cheating scandal.

In September 2015, VW was forced to admit in closed-door talks with US environmental regulators it had manipulated results in diesel emissions tests, prompting the resignation of then chief executive Martin Winterkorn.

Five years on, a regional court in Braunschweig, Germany, approved fraud charges against Winterkorn earlier this month, paving the way for the disgraced executive to stand trial.

A date for the trial has not yet been set.

The company has since agreed to pay out billions of dollars in compensation to hundreds of thousands of customers in both the United States and Germany who were sold cars with devices designed to hoodwink environmental regulators.

Progress for customers in other countries demanding compensation has been slow, however.

In a statement released in the early hours of Friday, European consumer association Beuc accused VW of doing everything it can to avoid paying out further compensation.

“After a massive breach of the law, VW [has] ignored justified complaints from consumers,” said Beuc head Monique Goyens. “We will not tolerate that.”